


Love is Blind

by theloversclub



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bily is a racist piece of shit, F/M, Period-Typical Racism, lucas and max have a hard conversation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-30 01:30:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12643392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theloversclub/pseuds/theloversclub
Summary: A few days after the Snowball, Lucas and Max still haven't talked about Billy.





	Love is Blind

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Lumax fic but it does focus on Lucas, his experiences with Billy and the rest of the Hawkins. Enjoy!

It had been two days since the Snowball, two days since Max had kissed him and Lucas was still on cloud nine. He still could hardly believe it. He liked Max so much and it had seemed like she liked him too, when they were on top of the bus roof, but he had still felt so nervous, stuttering out the words he had practiced all day. Luckily, she had got the message and he’d started dancing with her, feeling giddy. And then he had felt shock and excitement as she moved toward him, a split second to think ‘this is it Lucas, first kiss, don’t mess it up- “

He had liked it. Max had liked it. He hoped they would do it again. He wondered when. Now? 

He and Max were sprawled on his living room floor, reading comics. They had spent a couple hours at the arcade before coming back here for dinner. He was a little nervous about Max meeting his family—especially Erica— but she seemed completely relaxed and enthralled in Wonder Woman. He stared at her for a minute, thinking about how pretty she looked at the Snowball and how pretty she looked now. 

“Just because I call you a stalker doesn’t mean you have to stalk me all day, every day, you know” she suddenly remarked, flipping the page of her book. He felt a little embarrassed but didn’t look away. Eventually she put down the comic and stared right back at him. He sat up and moved closer to her. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was asking this, but it had been bugging him for a while. 

“Is everything okay with Billy?” 

She looked confused and a little annoyed. She liked to pretend that her stepbrother didn’t exist and they rarely talked about him. But Lucas couldn’t stop himself wondering what exactly the situation was. Max had said he left her alone now and it was okay, which was a relief, but he wasn’t entirely satisfied.

“Yeah, of course it is. He knows not to bother me now, you know that.”

“Yeah I know, I can tell he likes his dick the way it is”

“So what’s the problem?”

Lucas wasn’t really sure how to phrase the next question. He and Max had never agreed to be boyfriend and girlfriend but he assumed that’s what they were. But maybe she would take offence to that assumption? He was all new to this, he didn’t know the dating protocol and there was no way he was asking his mom or dad. He plunged ahead.

“I was just wondering… does he know that we uh, kissed?”

Max’s brow creased and she put down her comic completely.

“Does he know you’re my boyfriend? I mean, I’m not hiding it but he hasn’t asked. I don’t really care whether he knows or not. Do you?”

Lucas did, and he didn’t know why. He knew if Billy found out, he would be furious. On one hand, that prospect worried Lucas and he hoped Billy would never know. On the other, Billy couldn’t do much about it and there was something really satisfying about the thought of Billy knowing his stepsister was dating the guy he had hated so much but not being to stop it. 

Basically, he didn’t know what the hell he wanted and he could tell that was confusing Max.

“I don’t really know, I guess I just wonder about his reaction. Like he really hated me, he didn’t want you near me…”

“Yeah I know, he’s a goddamn nutcase. He was always a pain but I don’t know, something about you and me drove him over the edge. I don’t even know why he hated you…”

Lucas snorted at this and Max looked at him.

“Care to elaborate on that snort?”

“It’s pretty obvious”

“Is it? Do enlighten me please”

Lucas didn’t know how to sugar-coat it and didn’t think it was necessary.

“It’s because I’m black, Max. Your brother obviously couldn’t stand to see you even be friends with a black guy”

Max looked disgusted.

“I thought of that but I was, I guess just hoping I was wrong? God, he’s such an asshole. That’s so—god Lucas, I’m sorry”

He put his hand on hers and smiled a little.

“Hey, you don’t need to be sorry. People like Billy exist to be assholes and people like you exist to kick their ass. And me. And Steve helped, I guess” 

“Does…does that stuff happen a lot?” 

Lucas lifted his hand off Max’s and turned slightly away. He couldn't focus with her eyes on his. He looked down at the worn carpet and closed his eyes. He didn’t think about this stuff a lot since it was pretty painful. He thought about the Winston argument, which had been well intended but annoying. He thought about Troy calling him ‘Midnight’ and worse. He remembered how unfriendly some neighbours were to his whole family, as they glared at them and gossiped, never inviting them to their annual parties, so the whole family would sit at home watching TV, fully aware of seemingly the whole town having fun a few metres away. He thought about the government threatening to arrest his parents for ‘suspicious activity’, mysteriously not finding it necessary to do that to the Henderson’s or Wheeler’s.

Lucas didn’t pity himself or wish he wasn’t black anymore—he had learned to be proud of it. When he was a kid, just trying to make friends and seem cool, he had often wished he looked more like most of his classmates when he looked in the mirror. It wouldn’t fix all his problems but he still wished it was true. He didn’t think he would ever fit in, looking the way he did in a town that looked like Hawkins. Soon after, he’d met Mike and Will and a few years later, Dustin. Now he knew it might be harder to fit in but fitting in wasn’t the key to making friends or being happy. His friends helped him feel better about himself. He just wished nobody cared about the colour of his skin, he wished it wasn’t the first thing people saw. 

“Lucas?”

He looked back at Max and shrugged his shoulders.

“It happens sometimes, yeah. Not much you can do to stop it. Honestly, your brother was pretty extreme. I know about some horrible people, some horrible things, but Hawkins isn’t that bad. People here are more…subtle” 

“Subtle?”

He cast his mind about for an example.

“You’re the first white girl to ever like me back” 

“Wait, seriously?” 

“Yeah. I know I’m not very popular, I’m a nerd and all, Mike and Dustin have never really been very popular with girls either but you know, I was always just below the pecking order. Even pretend relationships, when you just held hands and stuff, I was never good enough, not white enough for some girls. I mean, they were 6 so they didn’t say “I don’t want to hold your hand because you’re black” but you know at that age everyone is obsessed with cooties? Especially girls? Well that applied to all the boys in our class but I got treated the worst. They acted like I was trash. It was like if they touched me I would get their hand dirty. You put 2 and 2 together and they were learning that from somewhere. My first ‘girlfriend’ was Kelly”

“In our class? Lucas, she’s so pretty!”

He grinned, and elbowed her. 

“Yeah, she’s way prettier than you!” 

“Why don’t you invite her to dinner then?” she exclaimed and started getting up jokingly. 

“No, she’s got a crush on some white boy. I guess we’re both fools that way…” 

“Well I’m so sorry that you’re stuck with me and not Kelly!” 

This continued for another minute, before he could finish his point. 

“Anyway, yeah it’s not like black girls aren’t good enough or something. White girls aren’t all that, you know. It just sucks that they think I’m uglier or worth less than the others over something so stupid. It’s pretty insulting, I mean uglier than Mike? Racists are blind” 

He looked into Max’s eyes and grinned. He chuckled at his own joke, which turned into full fledged laughter that she joined in with. It was a hard conversation and although he was glad they could speak about it, he also enjoyed laughing about something dumb with her. He was only a kid, like she was. They were allowed to be dumb. 

“Lucas, I am sorry about those girls. And all the other morons. I wish I could threaten all of them with a baseball bat into respecting you!” 

“Now there’s an idea….” 

Later, when they were all sitting down and eating together, Lucas felt very relieved. Erica was being bratty and embarrassing him as usual, but Max was getting on great with his parents. He smiled and ate some potatoes. 

Not bad for a white girl, Mad Max. 

**Author's Note:**

> I worked hard on this one, and @bloodysinclair did a great job beta'ing it. she is a totally awesome lumax warrior and helped me write about the shittiness of 80s and general racism so thank you rachel!
> 
> please leave a comment or kudos!
> 
> i'm @retrojeremy on twitter and @arcadetozier on tumblr so follow to read my rants about lumax and more!


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